July 15, 2005

The Plame Affair

What is really going on in the investigation over who leaked clandestine CIA agent Valerie Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak? Why is New York Times reporter Judith Miller faced with jail time for contempt when Time writer Matt Cooper has already identified Karl Rove as his source?

My guess is the original source was not Rove, but someone else in the administration. The original source spoke to Judith Miller (a neocon favorite- remember she wrote a number of inaccurate stories in the lead up to the Iraq invasion on Iraq's "WMD programs" that turned out to have been spoon-fed to her by Chalabi and the Pentagon crowd). Miller didn't go with the story, but she passed the information to Novak. Novak called Rove to confirm, and either told Rove about Plame or confirmed the information with him. Rove subsequently passed the information to Matt Cooper.

Novak outed Plame in his column, and the FBI showed up at his door. Novak (who isn't fond of the neocons anyway, remember they accused Novak and Pat Buchanan of being "unpatriotic" for opposing the war) promptly rolled over and gave up Miller as his source. Rove testified before the grand jury, and last week Cooper, with Rove's permission, identified Rove as his source. What prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI want now is Miller's original source, which she has refused to identify.

Who is the original source? Someone with (1) enough security clearance to know Plame's identity; (2) who is probably working in the WMD area (Plame was working on WMD issues for the CIA); (3) who is a neocon political operative as opposed to a career intelligence person; and (4) who is ruthless and a little bit reckless.

That narrows it down to a handful of people, but John Bolton certainly fits the profile, doesn't he? Another potentially fruitful place to start looking would be the Vice President's staff. Cheney assistant Scooter Libby or advisor John Hannah fit the bill nearly as well as Bolton.

I'm hoping that Miller realizes that national security and the public trust matters more than the sanctity of her source, and points Fitzgerald to the source of the mystery.